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| Congratulations Sami Buchanon |
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| Sami Buchanon |
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| Sami Buchanon with her first deer in Kodiak, Alaska |
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Sarah Lochner Receives her
Private Pilots License!
Congratulations!!
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What made you decide to get your pilots license at such a young age? I was eleven years old when my grandpa took my two older sisters and I flying to Talkeetna. I was the tag-a-long while my two older sisters were allowed to fly, taking turns there and back. After lunch my sister knew that I desired to fly and had asked my grandpa if I could take her place. Amazed by the “sisterly love” he agreed to let me fly. I finally flew for the first time and was hooked! Since then I knew I wanted to be a pilot.
How long did it take? I started training at the age of 14. According to FAA you have to be 16 years old in order to solo and 17 to get your pilot certificate. I started exactly one month before my 15th birthday and even though I had met all of the requirements, I had to wait two years before I could achieve my certificate. On my 17th birthday I also attained my float rating as well as my multi-engine rating four days later
What was most difficult in obtaining your license? The radio communication. I was always afraid of saying the wrong thing; until I realized that when one is flying 100 miles per hour, any mistake you make is about a mile behind you. Instead of being afraid of my mistakes, I now face them and learn from them.
What was the most memorable time in the air? It was a beautiful day for flying at the Birchwood Airport when my grandpa and I took off in the Aeronca Champ (tandem seat, fabric tail dragger). I love the Champ because you can take it just about anywhere, such as sandbars, random strips in the middle of nowhere and, in our case, Bold Airstrip. Bold is a very rough 1,000 foot gravel strip with tall trees on one end and water on the other, which is extremely hard to land on. After making several approaches I landed safely. We spent about 15 minutes enjoying the scenery and fresh air, then climbed back in to start the aircraft; it wouldn’t start; we were stuck. It finally started about 45 minutes later and we were off. Flying home was easy; the hard part was explaining to my mom why I was late.
How often do you fly? There have been times where I don’t fly for a month because of poor weather conditions. Yet I am always at my grandpa’s hanger once a week.
Now that you have your license what do you want to do with it and what’s next? I am already on my way to obtaining my instrument rating. One week after I earned my certificate I began to acquire the 50 hours of cross-country needed for my instrument rating by flying in the 310 aircraft down to Saint Louis, Missouri with my grandpa and my younger sister. My ultimate goal is to work for a large cargo airline such as Fed-Ex or UPS.
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Congratulations to Veronica Temple on her
completion of the Eagle U program at UCLA!
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| Veronica Temple (blue shirt) at Eagle U |
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Eagle U is a program built to help lead 'you' to success and get a 7 year head start on your future. The Eagle U workshop I attended was at UCLA from August 10-16. It helped me find my core values, taught me time management, goal setting, how to build mental toughness by 'winning the game’, and fun ways to study and get my work done quickly but accurately. It also taught me how to choose a college that suits my needs, superhero training, how to discover your abilities, get the perfect job, and have a great life. They went over interview skills and covered how to dress for an interview, sit, and how to 'act.' Patrick Combs, a speaker at Eagle U, taught us how to write a 'Brag Book' which list of your accomplishments. We were taught about Mentors, why they are important and how to choose them. During a Mentor Workshop I got to talk to people in the film industry, inventors, business owners, models, multi-millionaires...etc. and was able to ask them how they became so successful, what gave them that 'drive' to do what they wanted to do, how they found their dreams, the pros and cons of their job, and SO much more. I met many fascinating people there including my roommate, who is Kelsey Grammars daughter and Miss Malibu Teen USA. My experience at EU has been beneficial in every aspect of my life and will help me purse my dreams. I highly recommend this program to everyone and thank you to the Miss Alaska Scholarship Foundation for the scholarship to attend Eagle U.
Veronica Temple
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